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Pokkén Tournament Halloween Event
October 9th, 2015

Dogasu @ 06:39 JST -- The official website for Pokkén Tournament, the arcade fighting game currently available in Japan but coming to the Wii U worldwide in 2016, announced a Halloween Event taking place later this month.


The event will run from Thursday, October 15th to Tuesday, November 3rd.  If you use your Bana Passport / Aime Card you'll receive a Mumage and a Kyuukon as a special Support Pokemon set.  You'll also receive new avatar items / titles / PokéGold at random every time you play during the event.  The Haunted House stage will also get a Halloween-themed makeover.

You'll also be able to log onto the Pokken Web Link site and add Near's (the woman in the image above) Halloween costume to your game.


New Rocket-Dan song coming soon!
October 5th, 2015

Dogasu @ 07:35 JST -- Mima Masafumi, the sound director for Pocket Monsters XY (and every other Pocket Monsters series before that) has been posting on his Twitter feed for a while now about an upcoming new Rocket-Dan:

August 8th, 2015 3:50am JST

"And now information about the Rocket-Dan's secret...we've been surprised, once again, at the huge reaction of you members out there.  The new P of Pokemon's love for the Rocket-Dan is also quite strong!  It seems like, without a doubt, the gears can get going on a new proposal sometime soon!  As for the Team Song, there have been rumors among the members that it's going to be the ED for this autumn but making a Team Song is not so easy→" ロケット団ひみつ情報…。 団員の反響の大きさに、改めて驚かされるw。ポケモンの新たなPも、ロケット団愛は強い！間違い無く企画は再び動き出しそうだ！ 団歌に関してだか、秋のEDを噂する団員もいるが、団歌作りはそんなに簡単では無いw。→

"The Rocket-Dan's secret" seems to be be a reference to The Rocket-Dan's Secret Empire, a radio show that ran for 26 episodes back in 2012 that was hosted by the Rocket trio.  It was amazing.

"The new P of Pokemon" probably means "the new producer of Pokemon."  Based on a tweet I'll talk about later I'm thinking this is a reference to Sakou Tomohisa.

August 8th, 2015 3:51am JST

"At the moment we've asked the Rocket trio to submit some lyrics.  But will they do it?  And will the composer accept them?  And on top of all that, will we get an OK from the P, finance, and the other people at the top?  It's not impossible but the road ahead of us is definitely going to be a tough one.  But we believe you members' love for the Rocket-Dan definitely has the power to set things in motion!" 現在、ロケット団の3人に詩を発注。しかし、これを彼らが受け入れるか？さらには作曲家が受け入れるか？さらにさらにPが、予算組み、組織の上のOKを 取って来れるか？まだまだ道は険しいとしか、言いようが無い…。だが、団員のロケット団への愛が、必ずや全てを動かせる力を生み出すと信じている！

August 8th, 2015 3:52am JST

"→That's my idea!  We create a Rocket-Dan Team Song, we bring back the Rocket-Dan radio show and the Rocket-Dan Secret Live, and then have a late-night Rocket-Dan animated series "The Rocket-Dan's Pokemon for the Rocket-Dan."  It's a big dream but I think you need to dream big and give it your all.  That's what the late Mr. Shudou believed!" →私の構想は、こうだ！ロケット団の団歌を得て、ロケット団のラジオの復活、ロケット団のシークレットライヴ、さらには深夜のロケット団のアニメ番組「ロ ケット団の為のロケット団のポケモン」。夢は、あまりに大きいが、夢を目標にすべく努力を続けて行く。それこそが、亡き首藤さんへの想いだ！

August 8th, 2015 3:57am JST

"So from here on out We're depending on "The Love for the Rocket-Dan" from Rocket-Dan members all over the world!" これからも 全世界の、ロケット団員の 『ロケット団愛』に 大いに、期待する！

After that we didn't get much of an update until Sakou Tomohisa, the singer of the current opening theme to XY and producer of the upcoming theme song to XY & Z, tweeted this:

September 25th, 2015 1:56am

Tomorrow I'll be working on a Pokemon Animation Song Project as the general producer!!  Good night!  Sweet dreams!  (∩^o^)⊃━☆゚.*・。 明日はポケモンアニソンプロジェクト総合プロデューサーとしての仕事を全うしてきます…！！おやすみなさい！！！ みんないい夢を！ (∩^o^)⊃━☆゚.*・。

Mr. Sakou is also helping produce the opening theme to XY&Z so it seems like he's being kept busy with his role as a "General Producer."

And then, the very next day we get this from Mr. Mima's Twitter:

September 26th, 2015 3:27am JST

"That was a lot of fun :P  I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about.  Details are coming soon Nyaa!" 至福の時間だったw。 わかる人にはわかるよね？ 詳細は近々ニャー！w

The Sakou Tomohisa tweet may be unrelated to this Rocket-Dan song but it's hard to ignore the timing of his tweet in relation to Mr. Mima's.

Anyway, I really, really hope this new Rocket-Dan song ends up being the ending theme to XY&Z.  This "let's use middle school aged girl groups for the ending themes" thing the franchise has been doing for the last few years or so is getting really old so having the Rocket trio provide the ending would be a much-needed change of pace.  The ending theme for XY&Z hasn't been announced yet even though its premier is only a few weeks away so maybe there's still hope...?